Traces That Remain:
A Pictorial History of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Faith among the Japanese

Chapter 55

55. The First Asian Regional Teaching Conference and Further
Expansion

By April 1955 the number of localities where there were Bahá'ís remained about
the same but there were now a total of sixty-four believers — of whom
twenty-five were pioneers, elevenAmericans and fourteen Persians.

The Asia Teaching Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United
States informed the Tokyo Local Spiritual Assembly that the first Asian
Teaching Conference would be held in Japan. The Tokyo Local Spiritual Assembly
selected the date, the location, and made all the arrangements for the
conference, which became known thereafter as the "Nikko Conference."

In the Guardian's Message to the twelve national conventions that year, 1955,
he reviewed some of the accomplishments of the Ten Year Crusade, and he
announced that in 1957, thirteen new national assemblies were to be elected,
among these would be one in Japan. It was to be a regional assembly with its
seat in Tokyo. He assigned Hand of the Cause Jalal Khazeh to act as his
representative at that future national convention.

There were only two local spiritual assemblies in Japan in 1955. Six more
would be needed to form the basis for the national spiritual assembly. They
would have to be formed by Ridván 1956 in order to elect delegates to the
national convention. In addition to Japan, the regional area would consist of
Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, so there also needed to be

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local spiritual assemblies in those countries. It was very challenging to the
small group of Bahá'ís.

In September 1955, at the close of the Nikko Conference, it seemed almost
impossible to form so many more local assemblies in so short a time, but by
determined teaching efforts, confirmations, even miracles, it was accomplished
by April 21, 1956. Eight local spiritual assemblies were formed either by
election or by joint-declaration in Japan and four other assemblies, Kwangju
and Seoul in Korea, Tainan in Taiwan, and Hong Kong, were elected to make a
total of twelve. All the assemblies had pioneers as members, but the majority of
the Bahá'ís on the assemblies were native people of the various countries.

pledged a piece of land in Ashiya as the first endowment in Japan, to fulfill
one of the goals which the Guardian had given to be accomplished during the Ten
Year Crusade. The land developed a legal problem and did not come into the
possession of Mr. Mumtazi, and therefore could not be registered in the name of
the national assembly. He passed away in 1960. His son Rouhollah Mumtazi
fulfilled the pledge of his father by donating a piece of land in Shiga
Prefecture in 1969.

In 1955 there was the first mention of the Faith in Nagasaki since the time
Miss Alexander visited there in the 1930s. Miss Inatsuka of Tokyo had gone
there to visit family members. Dr. and Mrs. Earl went to Nagasaki from
Yamaguchi, where they were living, and joined Miss Inatsuka. She had arranged
for them to meet some people to discuss the Faith. But it was not until several
years later that there were enrollments in the city.

In 1955 Miss Alexander, with Mr. and Mrs. Torii, attended an Esperanto meeting
in Tokushima, Shikoku Island. They then

Hand of the Cause Mr. Zikrullah Khadem, the
Guardian's representative at the Nikko Conference speaking to the
friends.

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went on to Takamatsu for a meeting of the Blind Association. Then on to Kochi
for three meetings of the Blind Association. In Kochi a newsman interviewed
Miss Alexander and the article was printed. It was the first mention of the
Faith in Shikoku Island.

The same year the three of them went to Ichikawa and Fukui Prefectures for
meetings of the Blind Association. Miss Alexander said her association with
Esperantists and with the Blind Association offered many opportunities to speak
of the Faith, often to very large groups.

In 1955 Mr. and Mrs. Aziz Mohtadi settled in Nagoya and succeeded in
establishing a community which could form a local spiritual assembly the next
year.

In 1956, with the needed number of local spiritual assemblies formed, and the
proper number of delegates elected, the Bahá'ís looked forward to the formation
of the first National Spiritual Assembly of North East Asia.

Miss Agnes Alexander at the Nikko Conference.
She sent this photograph to the Guardian with these words written on the back,
"Agnes roars the Cause of God!" Miss Linfoot, chairman of the conference is
sitting at the table.

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In 1957, at the Guardian's instruction, one of the goals of the national
spiritual assembly was to propagate the Faith throughout the other islands of
Japan. It was in relation to that goal that Mr. Labib moved from Hiroshima to
Nagasaki in Kyushu Island, and Mr. G.V. Tehrani settled in Sapporo,
Hokkaido.

Mr. and Mrs. Katirai visited Awaji island, and also made several trips to the
island of Shikoku, resulting in the declaration of the first Bahá'í in
Takamatsu, in October 1957, an eighteen-year-old student, Teruyoshi Ando. He is
not to be found today. As had happened in other places, often the early
believers did not really understand the greatness of the Teachings of
Bahá'u'lláh, and although they were sincere at the time, they would move,
leaving no address, or simply cease activity. But then, by contrast, there were
those who, knowing little, declared themselves, and through the years gained
and deepened in knowledge of the Faith and remained steadfast and loyal
adherents.

In the late 1950s Dr. Earl visited Sendai and other goal cities for some
extension teaching.

Mr. Mumtazi, who was living in Kobe, during 1956 and 1957, went to several
islands and towns; Uno Island, Te Island, Nao Island, Himeji, Okayama, Itami,
Akashi and other places.

It was not easy in those days. Mr. Mumtazi wrote of his experience teaching in
Akashi. He went alone, knowing no one, speaking no Japanese. He could not find
any place to have meetings. He happened to meet the manager of a Buddhist
Temple, Mr. Tadasu Miyazawa (see Ch. 69), who allowed him to have meetings in
one of their rooms. After a year of regular meetings, several people became
Bahá'ís, including Mr. Miyazawa. In 1958 an all-Japanese local spiritual
assembly was formed there. It was the second all-Japanese one. Nagoya was the
first, in the Ridvan 1957 election. Mr. Miyazawa remained a faithful Bahá'í
until his death in 1971.

The first Japanese believer in Kobe, Mr. Rihei Sako and Mr. Mitsuteru Oka,
another Kobe Bahá'í, accompanied Mr. Mumtazi on several teaching trips.

Mr. Hassan Naderi moved with his family to Osaka, in April 1956. After
settling there, he became greatly discouraged as he couldn't communicate and he
had no business. He bought a house in Osaka for himself and his family where
all the meetings were held. Then in 1958 he donated his house to the national
spiritual assembly. As is described elsewhere, that donation

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had a great effect, making it possible many years later to build a fine
National Haziratu'l-Quds. Mr. Naderi indeed did great service to the Faith in
Japan.

In 1957 Mr. William Maxwell, the national spiritual assembly chairman, who was
pioneering in Korea, made a circuit teaching trip visiting Tokyo, Akashi,
Osaka, Nishinomiya,

In 1957 the Bahá'ís in Hiroshima had extension teaching activities in Kure,
Iwakuni and Atsuyama.

By 1958 Mr. Labib had extended his activities to Fukuoka and Sasebo in Kyushu
Island.

In those early days the Faith was spread largely through the efforts of the
pioneers. As mentioned before, virtually all the Persians and Americans made
periodic teaching trips to other islands or to nearby towns which were goals of
the national assembly or local assemblies.

Gradually, as the Japanese Bahá'ís gained in knowledge and experience,
they began to teach independently. One of the early Japanese Bahá'ís to do
travel-teaching was Mr. Masazo Odani, who had become attracted to the Faith
after hearing Mr. Khadem speak. Mr. Odani made a three-week teaching trip by
himself in August 1957, to Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, Shikoku Island and Kyushu
Island.

Mr. Gekie Nakajima, an Osaka Bahá'í, also went on teaching trips; probably the
most memorable was to Hokkaido in 1957 with Mr. Rouhollah Mumtazi, (see Ch.
67).

Due to the teaching efforts during the late 1950s, by 1960 there were Bahá'ís
in thirty-three localities twice as many as there were in 1956.

By 1959 there were about a dozen publications in Japanese which included the
revised edition of "The Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh" and "Bahá'u'lláh and the
New Era." There was also a prayer book and several pamphlets.

A great achievement in 1959 was the purchase of a site for a future
Mashriqu'l-Adkar near Tokyo. The new national spiritual assembly spent much
time consulting on how to achieve the goals which had been given by the
Guardian just four months before he passed away.

The First Asian Teaching Conference, 1955

The Nikko Conference, correctly designated as the Asian Regional Teaching
Conference, was held at the Palace Hotel in Nikko. It was sponsored by the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and its Asia
Teaching Committee. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Tokyo was the host.

Hand of the Cause Zikrullah Khadem was the Guardian's representative. Miss
Alexander attended in her capacity as

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Auxiliary Board member. The other Auxiliary Board member attending was Mr. Carl
Scherer from Macau.

As it was a regional conference, Bahá'ís from the Pacific and other Far East
areas were invited. About sixty adults and several children of pioneers
attended. Most attendants came from Japan of course, but also as far away as
Guam, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Iran and the Caroline Islands. Miss
Charlotte Linfoot represented the National Spiritual Assembly of the United
States, and was the conference chairman.

The conference had a two-fold purpose; first, to expedite teaching plans that
would bring into existence a sufficient number of new assemblies to ensure the
election of the new National Spiritual Assembly of North East Asia. The other
purpose was to give impetus to the teaching in all the nearby countries.

There were many speakers at the conference. Mr. Khadem spoke on the Will and
Testament and the Guardianship; Mrs. Mamie Seto on the Covenant. Miss Linfoot
spoke on the goals of the Ten Year World Crusade, which was then in its second
year. Mr. Hiroyasu Takano told of his pilgrimage during which the Guardian
unfolded his hopes and goals for Japan. A highlight was having Mr. Saichiro
Fujita tell of his years with 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Fujita was soon to leave Japan for
the Holy Land at the Guardian's invitation. He stayed there, not to return to
Japan again.

In September that year, there were sixty-three Bahá'ís in Japan, of whom
thirty-nine were Japanese. The rest were Americans and Persians who had
responded to the Guardian's call for pioneers. Special efforts were made to
assist all Japanese to attend the conference. Of the thirty-nine, nineteen
attended.

It was a "first" for many of the Bahá'ís attending. They had had no experience
of being surrounded by Bahá'ís and living in a Bahá'í atmosphere. The loving
spirit of Bahá'í brotherhood which prevailed touched the hearts.

The conference sent a greeting cable to the Guardian and received a reply
before the last session. "Deeply appreciate sentiments fervently praying
unprecedented victories. Deepest love, Shoghi."

The conference, and the prayer of the Guardian, did indeed bring about
"unprecedented victories" and it marked a turning point for the Faith, not only
in Japan, but in all of North East Asia.